The Daily Campus, Page 6
Friday, September 9, 2011
News
» MEDICINE
First black child diagnosed with aging disease
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — The elfin child with the big personality and bright smile calls herself “the first lady” and dreams of the future. But doctors say 12-year-old Ontlametse Phalatse has only, perhaps, another couple of years to live. “I call myself a first lady because I’m the first black child with this disease ... Which other black child do you know with this disease?” she challenged. Ontlametse is the first black child diagnosed with progeria, a rare and fatal genetic condition that accelerates the aging process, the Progeria Research Foundation said. Nobody knows how many kids in the world have it. In a two-year campaign to identify them, the Progeria Research Foundation says the number of children diagnosed around the world has soared from 48 to 80 on five continents. The foundation’s executive director, Audrey Gordon, says only two Africans have been diagnosed and both live in South Africa – Ontlametse and a 5-year-old white girl. That is probably because South Africa, an economic powerhouse, offers some of the best medical care on the continent. Gordon says there are several black holes on the map in her office studded with colored
tacks where they have found children living with progeria. “We know that there are children (with progeria) in Africa, in China and Russia, but we just can’t seem to get to them,” she said in a telephone interview from the foundation’s office in Peabody, Massachusetts. Ontlametse’s mother, Bellon Phalatse, says her baby was born looking normal but that she realized early on that something was wrong. The baby suffered constant rashes and by the time she was 3 months old Phalatse thought she had a skin disease. Before Ontlametse celebrated her first birthday “her hair was falling, her nails weren’t normal, the skin problems, we were going up and down to the doctors.” As the child aged prematurely, her father abandoned the family when Ontlametse was 3 years old. Despite her frequent illnesses, Ontlametse enrolled in school at 6 and proved a bright pupil. But she was often scorned by classmates, teachers and others who thought she was so small and skinny because she had AIDS. South Africa has the highest number of people living with AIDS of any country but the disease still carries a terrible social stigma. “It was horrible, I don’t know
how to explain” what we went through, Phalatse said. It was not until two years ago that a doctor friend suggested she have Ontlametse tested for progeria, and brought her a book about the disease. It included pictures. Children with progeria look remarkably similar, despite different ethnic backgrounds: small and bald with oversized heads, eyes that bulge a bit, gnarled hands. They suffer from thinning skin which has a network of blue veins showing on the heads of white children. Phalatse said she knew immediately, and a doctor confirmed the diagnosis. “I’m very happy now that I understand what causes progeria,” Phalatse said. The diagnosis came with the news that most children with the disease die at 13. But it also brought a better understanding of what they can do to try to prolong Ontlametse’s life, and it has brought her the specialized care she needs. Each school holiday, Ontlametse and her mom fly to the United States, where she participates in research funded by the Progeria Research Foundation at Children’s Hospital Boston. It gives her access to cutting edge drugs that are not yet commercially available.
Back home, they struggle to feed her the required healthy diet. Phalatse is unemployed and the two survive on her daughter’s government disability allowance. Ontlametse is unfazed: “Sometimes when my mommy has money, she buys lettuce and cucumbers and I help her do salad.” At school, Ontlametse keeps her hat on her head, self-conscious of her bald head. One of the things on her wish list is a specially designed wig. She has two friends in her class but says not all her classmates are kind, but it doesn’t bother her. “I don’t care what people say about me,” she says, making a throwaway motion with a hand misshapen with arthritis, knobby fingers and discolored nails. In her rundown brick home in the small town of Hebron about 50 miles north of Johannesburg, Ontlametse ditches the hat. She does her homework, reading, watches TV and has daily chores like washing her socks and cleaning her shoes. She can’t play sports or even a game of hopscotch because physical exercise tires her out. Asked what she would like to be, she breaks into a big grin that shows irregular teeth.
» CORPORATIONS
Wal-Mart brings back layaway for holiday shoppers NEW YORK (AP) — Wal-Mart is bringing back something its customers have been asking for since the Great Recession: layaway. The world’s largest retailer, which ditched the pay-as-yougo plans in 2006, is rolling out a holiday layaway plan from Oct. 17 through Dec. 16. Wal-Mart is following rivals that brought back the service during the thick of the recession. Wal-Mart’s layaway option comes at a time when its mostly low-income shoppers are being squeezed by high unemployment and rising costs. Wal-Mart is trying to reverse nine straight quarters of revenue declines at its namesake U.S. stores open at least a year – a key measure of a retailer’s health. “We’re always looking for ways to ease budget strain for our customers, and we know
this holiday season brings with it additional financial pressure,” said Duncan MacNaughton, chief merchandising officer at Wal-Mart’s U.S. division. “This was a key component that our customers asked us for.” Layaway – which allows shoppers to pay over time, interest-free, and pick up their merchandise when it’s paid in full – became popular during the Great Depression. The practice had become largely a thing of the past as the economy flourished and credit cards became common. But when credit dried up and the job market soured during the recession that began in late 2007, Sears and other merchants added back or expanded the service. Citing increased costs and lower customer demand, Wal-
Mart phased out its layaway in September 2006 – roughly a year before the recession began – with the exception of fine jewelry. But the discounter faced criticism because it built its reputation on helping its lowincome shoppers. Wal-Mart Stores Inc., based in Bentonville, Ark., said it will be able to limit costs now by limiting the layaway program to toys and electronics with a price tag of $15 or more. Also, the total layaway purchase has to add up to at least $50. Wal-Mart will also charge a $5 non-refundable service fee and $10 cancellation charge for orders not picked up by Dec. 16 or cancelled by the customer. The program is only available at stores. It also requires a 10 percent down payment. The
company said if the program is successful, it may extend it throughout the year. The layaway plan is part of Wal-Mart’s efforts to turn around its struggling U.S. business. In addition to the layaway program, Wal-Mart said that starting Monday, it will cut prices on dozens of holiday toys to $15. The company also said it will start offering small samples of holiday merchandise, including outdoor décor, later this month – two weeks earlier than a year ago. Wal-Mart has been going back to “everyday low prices” instead of pricing gimmicks like temporarily slashing prices on select items. It’s also finishing up restocking thousands of items it cut during an overzealous bid to clean up its stores.
AP
Ontlametse Phalatse, who suffers from Progeria, stands on a desk surrounded by her classmates at the Lorato Primary School in Hebron, near Pretoria, South Africa.
Increased student enrollment one factor hurting budget from TOWN HALL, page 1 Finding additional funds for financial aid also remains a top priority for the financial services officials.
“The studentto-faculty ratio has risen to 18:1 from 14:1 a few years ago.”
One of the major challenges facing the administration right now is the dramatic increase in student enrollment over the last 10 years. The student-to-faculty ratio has risen to 18:1 from 14:1 a few years ago, and
as Provost Nicholls noted, signs of stress are beginning to show. Classroom space is an issue, as is the falling percentage of tenured faculty members. The university is still trying to address this problem, and is not looking to grow enrollment at least for the next few years. While the fiscal picture at UConn may seem grim, especially for the many students who rely on financial aid at UConn, Mr. Gray stressed that the university is still in a better position than many other public universities around the country. The Town Hall Meetings will continue on a regular basis throughout the year as the economic picture for the 2012 fiscal year becomes clearer, including final tuition increases and financial aid appropriations.
James.Onofrio@UConn.edu
» EDUCATION
Tuition hikes fail to stop cutbacks in higher ed
FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) — America’s public colleges and universities have burned through nearly $10 billion in government stimulus money and are still facing more tuition hikes, fewer course offerings and larger class sizes. Many college students are already bearing the brunt of the cuts in their wallets as they prepare for their future careers. “This next academic year is going to be the hardest one on record” for cash-strapped colleges, said Dan Hurley, director of state relations for the American Association of State Colleges and Universities. Hurley said the higher education system has entered a phase in which cuts will begin to affect academics. Public university systems used the stimulus to prevent deeper layoffs, maintain degree programs and keep campuses open and are now bracing for the end of the federal program. The effects will be greater in some states than others. Since 2009, Colorado has used more than $600 million in stimulus money for higher education, accounting for more than a quarter of the higher education budget over that period. Stimulus money covered 35 percent of South Carolina’s higher education budget in 2009 but less than 2 percent last year, according to a report by
the New America Foundation. California used $1.4 billion in stimulus money to pay nearly 30 percent of its higher education tab two years ago, but stimulus accounted for less than 1 percent in 2010. Like most states, Nevada’s stimulus infusion only softened a steep spending slide. The higher education budget fell about $210 million, almost 30 percent, over the last three years, even with the stimulus. “We have frozen pay in the system. We have closed programs. We have cut back everything we could. You name it, we’ve cut it,” said Dan Klaich, chancellor for Nevada’s higher education system. Without the stimulus boost, at least 35 states have been forced to make further cuts in higher education spending for the 2011-12 school year, with double-digit decreases in 13 states. That means tuition hikes, which for years had exceeded the rate of inflation, are even greater. At Colorado State University in Fort Collins, students are paying about 20 percent more this year, up to about $8,000 for in-state and $24,000 for outof-state tuition. For many, that means extra roommates, second jobs or giving up dreams of studying abroad. The rising costs were the reason junior Ryan Thistlethwaite to join the Air
AP
In this photo taken Thursday, Aug. 18, students move in for the fall semester at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colo. CSU students are paying about 20 percent more this year, up to about $8,000 for in-state and $24,000 for out-of-state tuition.
Force ROTC program. The human development and family services major pays outof-state tuition with student loans and said he made the decision after figuring he would owe about $125,000 after four years at Colorado State. He will not receive an ROTC scholarship, but he will be guaranteed a job after finishing school to help pay off his loans. “The money, I’d say that’s 60
percent of it, why I’m joining ROTC,” he said. The cost shift from states to students has been going on for years, according to State Higher Education Executive Officers, a group that tracks college funding. Adjusted for inflation, public colleges and universities in 1985 received about $7,479 per student from their states, with about $2,274 per student com-
ing from tuition. The group says the amount coming from state budgets dropped to an average of $6,451 in 2010, while the tuition portion rose to $4,321. Mike McNeil, who was helping his freshman daughter move into her dorm at Colorado State, shook his head at the tuition hike and the bind it places on middle-class families. McNeil attended the uni-
versity when the government picked up more of the tab. He now relies on money inherited from his parents and loans to help his two children pay for college. “Back then, I worked at Arby’s, had a summer job to pay for school,” said McNeil, a manager from the Denver suburbs. “A kid working today, no way they could work enough to raise the kind of money you’d need.” However painful the rising tuition has been on students and families, it has not done enough to balance the effects of state budget cuts at many colleges and universities. The seven-campus University of Maine system, for example, has cut about 20 programs, including Latin, and reduced employment by 7 percent since the recession began. Those cuts came even as Maine used some $29 million in stimulus money on higher education between 2009 and 2011. In California, the state’s 112 community colleges will offer 5 percent fewer classes this fall. At Bakersfield College, some 150 classes have been cut and thousands of students have been wait-listed. College president Greg Chamberlain said community colleges are turning students away despite surging demand from the unemployed who are looking for new skills.